Apple
Apple News+ Food and Designing Concepts While Trying to Think Like Apple
Apparently, Iâm on a roll with predicting new Apple services. Last year, when Apple introduced the Sports app I was tremendously excited. Two years earlier I had nailed the logo, the name, the color scheme, and the overall concept. While my imagined Apple Sports app was much more ambitious, we still got the bones of it. It always feels good when an idea of mine ends up coming to fruition, particularly when it comes to an Apple concept. Itâs happened a few times, both in more obvious cases and in some edge ones. Obviously, I canât take any credit for them making these products. After all itâs possible they had already begun working on things like Sports well before I posted my concept. That being said, it looks like I nailed another Apple service.
Yesterday the company unveiled Apple News+ Food. Itâs a new section inside of the News app that lets you read food publications, get nutrition stories, find new recipes, and organize those recipes into your own little collection. Four years ago, I created a concept for 9to5Mac imagining âApple Kitchen.â Apple Kitchen was envisioned as a new app that would be built-in to your iPhone that surfaced recipes from popular providers, allowed you to organize recipes, provided an optional paid service for videos from professional chefs, and helped you keep a grocery list. It felt like a natural extension of the companyâs health initiatives. Now despite Apple News+ Food being a new section of an existing app and not a dedicated one, it is very much what I imagined they would create sans the instructional videos. Apple News+ Food features a dedicated new UI for getting new recipes from providers like Bon Appetite, Good Housekeeping, and Southern Living. Thereâs a beautifully designed catalogue system and a way to create your own library of the recipes you find. It even provides you with detailed ingredients lists. And of course, itâs a new premium service rather than a free one. Another feather in my cap.
As you might imagine, I was pretty excited to see this surprise announcement yesterday. When creating concepts, my goal has always been to be as realistic and pragmatic as possible. In other words, to think like Apple would. Too many concept designers often go far out of the realm of possibility. But Iâve always tried to stay true to what I think Apple would actually do. I guess I have been on the right track.
Side note: Apple News+ Food is almost certainly a service intended for Appleâs upcoming smart display. The new user interface for actually walking through a recipe feels like the clearest hint.
The Most Exciting Year for iPhone Upgrades in Ages Kicks Off Next Week
This year’s iPhone lineup sounds like it is going to be the best one yet. It starts with the iPhone SE or what is now largely expect to be called the iPhone 16E. Apple announced that a new member of the family will be joining the fray next Wednesday and it is almost certainly the new ‘budget’ iPhone. I personally imagine that it will be quite a popular device. With upgrades having stalled, a more affordable device with Apple Intelligence, a modern design, a better display, and newer features like the action button and USB-C it’s likely to be a hit for folks still using models like the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, 2020 iPhone SE, and iPhone 12. It’ll be a less expensive way to bring your phone entirely up to date. What we’re expecting is essentially the core of the iPhone 16 for almost half the price. How can that not be a smash?
Once the iPhone 16E is out, that clears the deck for iPhone hardware announcements until the annual refresh in the fall. Three distinct models have been long rumored: iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17, and iPhone 17 Pro (also available in a Pro Max size). The iPhone 17 Air is perhaps the most interesting of all of this year’s new models. It’s expected to be incredibly light and thin, less than 6mm in fact. It’s going to be essentially the 12-inch MacBook of iPhones. While it will still have the latest chip, a great ProMotion OLED display, and other key iPhone features–it will likely have fewer cameras, fewer speakers, and potentially some other compromises. It will be entirely focused on making a statement, something Apple hasn’t done with the iPhone’s design in a while. The Air will likely drive more conversation than usual and it will almost certainly be easily identifiable out and about in the world. It’s the iPhone that I am planning to buy this year.
Next up is what has traditionally been the most boring member of the iPhone family, the standard iPhone 17. Like the iPhone 17 Air, it is expected to get a new design with a horizontal camera bar reminiscent of the Nexus 6P from many years ago. I say this device is boring because it’s probably going to be a run of the mill upgrade with better cameras, a better display, and some new colors. Sound familiar? That’s because they’ve essentially made the same sort of upgrades to the standard model every year since the iPhone 11. The one silver lining with the iPhone 17 is that it may have a ProMotion display.
Lastly, there’s the iPhone 17 Pro. As far as the rumors go, it’ll likely be a much more powerful, more premium, and more expensive version of the standard iPhone 17. Similar to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air, it will likely adopt the new camera design–though the actual layout is still being debated. Aside from being the objectively best model in the lineup, it will be the only way to get the largest form factor. Since there is no “Plus” model this time around, all of those folks who like a giant phone are going to have to pay not just a pretty penny but the prettiest penny.
Ultimately, this year’s lineup is clearly focused on looking different. Each one will be almost overwhelmingly identifiable as a brand new iPhone in the wild, more so than any other model in recent memory. Looking new is always a key driver of upgrades and the iPhone has looked largely the same to normal users since the iPhone 12 adopted the flat edges almost 5 years ago. Combined with more Apple Intelligence features likely to come this summer at WWDC, these are going to be very exciting iPhones and it all seemingly starts as early as next week.
What Remains of the Clients We Loved
Iâve downloaded thousands of apps as an iOS aficionado since day one. But none have typically inspired me as much as the third-party social media clients that helped build the industry as we know it today. Iâm talking about Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Echofon, Twittelator, Tweetie, Alien Blue, Apollo, Narwhal, Comet, among many others. These apps all found ways to offer unique experiences to users that improved upon the original product. In some of these cases, apps were acquired by the platform and twisted and reshaped into first-party clients like Tweetie and Alien Blue which became the X and Reddit apps we have today. Now they are largely unrecognizable as their original third-party predecessors. Thatâs unfortunate. Itâs even more unfortunate that X and Reddit have changed the way they offer their APIs leading to no clients in the case of X and substantially fewer ones in the case of Reddit.
Thankfully, thereâs Mastodon and Bluesky and a handful of Reddit developers willing to put up with the current API situation. I find myself frequently reminiscing about the clients of old and am always on the hunt for the best iOS apps so I wanted to talk about what remains of these iconic products.
Ivory is the spiritual successor to whatâs largely considered the best Twitter client of all-time, Tweetbot. Outside of the actual content of the timeline, the app largely feels much like Tweetbot did with a handful of tweaks. Itâs the most well-designed, thoughtful, and reliable social media client there is today. Much like Tweetbot was. As Iâve said before, Iâm holding out hope that the Tapbots team eventually develops a counterpart for Bluesky. Weâll see what happens there, the developers have actually joined the platform in recent weeks leading a few to speculate that itâs in the cards now.
Twitterrific was another incredible Twitter client, in fact you could argue it was the first. While The Iconfactory doesnât offer a Mastodon or Bluesky client, they do make Tapestry. Tapestry takes a different approach to social media by letting you build custom feeds with Mastodon, Bluesky, Reddit, RSS, YouTube, and others. Though the app only allows you to consume content, thereâs no posting available at the moment. Tapestry feels like it has a lot of Twitterrific dna inside it, whether itâs the interesting font choices, the color scheme, the minimalistic timeline design, and even the shape of images and icons.
While we all miss Apollo deeply, it didnât technically need to die. Though I understand why Christian Selig decided not to move forward with it after his contentious back and forth with Reddit. Despite Apolloâs demise, Narwhal was in fact redesigned and adopted a subscription model to accommodate the changes to API costs. Iâve been using Narwhal 2, the latest version, a lot lately and find it to be cleaner, more customizable, and in some cases more reliable than the first-party Reddit app. Redditâs official app thatâs built on the back of Alien Blue has a lot going on. Itâs not bad, but itâs not the best experience. Iâd argue Narwhal might just have it beat.
There are other clients for Bluesky, Mastodon, and Reddit. But none of them are as nice or reliable as the three apps mentioned above. Theyâre the real successors to the iconic clients we all miss dearly. So if youâre feeling nostalgic for Tweetbot, try Ivory. If youâre feeling nostalgic for Twitterrific, try Tapestry. And if youâre feeling nostalgic for Apollo, try Narwhal 2.
Hopefully Pixelmator Follows in the Steps of Workflow Rather Than Dark Sky
It happened folks, Pixelmator is officially part of Apple. Pixelmator’s apps have been essential to me for more than a decade. I was both excited and mildly terrified by the announcement a few months ago that they were joining the fruit company. When Apple acquires beloved products, sometimes they make them even better and sometimes they don’t. Theyâve generally been doing a great job though and I hope that Pixelmator and Photomator stick around as standalone products or are at least used as the foundations for even better new ones. I certainly don’t want to see them just disappear into the Photos app, relegated to a set of features. Fingers crossed that they follow in the steps of Workflow, Shazam, and Texture and just become better versions of themselves rather than get enveloped into Apple apps like Dark Sky and Beats Music did. Man I miss those two.
Apple Invites Screams That an iOS UI Overhaul is Coming
The rumored Apple Invites app has arrived. While I obviously haven’t had much time to play with it, I have quickly browsed through the UI and wanted to share some observations. The last new Apple app, Apple Sports, already felt out of place in iOS 18. It has a more visionOS or watchOS-like design language utilizing colorful backgrounds, glassy floating UI elements, expanding buttons, and lots of layered shapes. Apple Invites takes it all even further. It’s got big beautiful cards, translucent cells, big bold buttons, and an emphasis on content. It feels so clearly like a hint of what is to come in a future iOS update. It’s almost screaming it in our faces. It seems awfully suspect that Apple’s two latest apps have a whole new design language that does not mesh with the rest of the OS. Presumably, other first-party apps are on track to get overhauls to match. Maybe in iOS 19? There have been rumors of such a redesign. I’ll also note that the icon for the app is quite fun and super colorful. It is hopefully another hint towards refreshed Apple icons that take better advantage of the full rounded rec shape compared to many of the iOS 7-style ones we still have today.
Fifteen Years of iPad, Appleâs Device with a Persistent Identity Crisis
Itâs lunch oâclock, so itâs time to finish this blog post. Fifteen years ago today, I was sitting in my sixth grade classroom when my teacher called me over to her desk to show me what I had been waiting for Apple to unveil: the iPad. There it was on the screen, the first photo I had seen of Appleâs tablet that had been long rumored and which at the time was traditionally referred to as a âslate.â Thankfully, that name didnât stick even for more commoditized tablets. 8 months later, I was able to buy my own iPad after doing odd jobs, mowing lawns, and more over the summer. I loved that original iPad, especially because I had yet to get my own new Mac. I had hand-me-downs and we of course had a family Mac. But this felt like the first time I was getting a new âcomputerâ just for myself. Hilariously, I remember syncing my original iPad to my Dadâs old PowerBook G4 that he passed down to me. It felt a lot like transferring my apps and media over wasnât just a technical task, but a symbolic shift. The iPad felt like the future of computing. Fast forward to today and the iPad doesnât know what it wants to be. Itâs not the best laptop. Itâs not the best way to watch movies. Itâs not the best way to read books. Itâs good at all these things, but itâs not the best at them. The company has struggled to give the iPad a real identity. They lost track of Steveâs original vision of the iPad as a car while the computer was the truck that could do more but wouldnât be needed as often. Unfortunately, most tasks are still easier to do on a Mac. I still hold out hope that Apple will eventually figure out the right way to position the iPad, but Iâm not seeing it yet. The iPad mini is the best iPad right now simply because itâs not trying to be something that it isnât. Itâs just a really good tablet with a giant app library thatâs easy to take anywhere. The rest of the lineup is trying to be a good tablet, a good laptop, a good canvas, and so on without being the best at any of them. I love my iPads, but theyâre glorified YouTube watching devices. When I want to get real things done, I still turn to my Mac. Though I shouldnât have to. If only Apple would stop holding iPadOS back. The radically powerful hardware just doesnât match the rest of the ecosystem. None of this is particularly new to anyone who pays attention to the gadget world, but Iâll keep reiterating it until it finally happens. Hopefully.
Perplexity Assistant is the Best Example of Apple Needing to Expand Extensibility on iOS
Last week Perplexity launched their latest product: Perplexity Assistant for Android. I’ve been a big fan of Perplexity for a long time. Despite its often contentious relationship with publishers, they make a spectacularly good tool. I love them, if only for the fact that they’re the first search engine to give Google a run for its money in years. But this isn’t about the search engine game or the AI search race. Perplexity Assistant is a replacement for Google Assistant and Gemini on Android phones. It can be summoned from anywhere, understand screen context, answer complex questions, and do normal personal assistant things like set reminders. I’ve been using it on my Pixel 9 and have been extremely impressed. It’s created an even starker contrast to the experience I have on my iPhone. Just the other day, John Gruber wrote about how the latest incarnation of Siri can often be worse than the previous non-AI infused version. Despite Siri’s new AI features, I still mostly use it for reminders, alarms, and calendar events. I almost never use it for complex questions or even for the ChatGPT integration. I prefer to just use the native app. Perplexity Assistant on Android is so good, both functionally and visually. It’s often better than Gemini and it is leaps and bounds ahead of Siri. It is the first example in my opinion, of how much we could benefit from Apple opening up more parts of iOS. I continue to believe that Apple should not wholesale open up the operating system to work like Android. But in this new day and age of artificial intelligence, it would be a great reward to users to allow us to use other assistants. And I know what you’re thinking, wouldn’t this just highlight how bad Siri can be? Sure, but I think it would also further light a fire under Apple’s butt to fix Siri. Real competition to drive improvements. They can’t coast.
Apple Rumors Seemingly Drive Samsung's Strategy Again
Samsung held their annual Unpacked event today to formally take the wraps off of their next generation flagship phones. The Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra are exactly what anyone who follows this industry expected. Minor hardware upgrades with a boatload of AI features that may or may not actually be useful. While these were the real entrĂ©e of todayâs event, there was a fourth S25 model presented at the very end of the show. The Galaxy S25 Edge is Samsungâs new design-first, ultra-thin, hero device. As far as I can tell, itâs an S25 but thinner and missing one of the cameras. Now if all of this is sounding familiar to you, join the club.
Last May, the first murmurs that Apple was working on a âslimâ iPhone 17 model started to percolate around the industry. On May 5th, 2024, my buddy Chance Miller at 9to5Mac reported on an investor note from Jeff Pu that mentioned a new slim model that would be replacing the plus. In July, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo corroborated the rumor when reporting on new Apple chipsets. On August 1, 2024, YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser shared that he believed the device was real and it would be the first iPhone to adopt the âAirâ modifier. Ultimately, on August 11, 2024, Mark Gurman also confirmed the âiPhone 17 Airâ was in the works for next fall. In just the past few weeks, Mark and Ming Chi-Kuo have continued to reiterate that the device exists and is still expected to launch this fall. In fact, it appears that we have actually seen the new design already.
Now letâs step back a bit, it was clear that Apple was indeed working on an ultra-thin new iPhone focused on being a highly desirable beautiful object as early as May of 2024. It was even clearer by mid-August as the rumor continued to be substantiated. Enter October 2024, Samsung is reported to be working on their own âslimâ version of the Galaxy S25. That came as no surprise to anyone whoâs been around awhile. Samsung is well-known for releasing, how shall I say this, Apple âinspiredâ products of their own. Thatâs as cordially as I think I can frame it. Todayâs event seemingly lent further credence to this. Very little information was shared about the Galaxy S25 Edge. The press got virtually no details and no one got to go hands-on with it. The company also didnât reveal a price or release date. All we got, as reported by 9to5Google, was that it should land around April. Heck, the company didnât even mention it in their English press release today and as far as I can tell it isnât listed as a product on their website. All it got was a single brief mention on the Korean press release.
It is clear that the product is not finished or ready to fully share with the public. In other words, its development likely didnât start that long ago. This may be the best example of an Apple âinspiredâ device trying to preempt the Cupertino companyâs own innovations. It sure looks like Samsung moved forward with this device, potentially last spring, because Apple was rumored to be working on the âiPhone 17 Airâ and they wanted to beat them to the punch. May 2024 to April 2025 is nearly a year of development. Itâs not farfetched to think that they cobbled something together, after all they control much of the supply chain.
This wouldnât be the first time theyâve appeared to have done this either, I can recall the conspicuous launch of the terribly received Galaxy Gear in October 2013 after over a year of Apple smartwatch rumors. Apple Watch was first rumored to be in development in December of 2011 by The New York Times with the first Galaxy Gear leak popping up in February of 2013. That fall they got the exact headlines I imagine they wanted. And strategy aside, Samsung seemingly continues to introduce product designs that look awfully similar to Apple ones. See a new VR device announced back in December but shown off today called âProject Moohanâ that looks a lot like the Vision Pro or last yearâs Galaxy Buds and âUltraâ watch.
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My Formula for the Perfect Apple Podcast
Itâs no secret that podcasts have become an increasingly popular medium over the past decade. However, many have also become more political and polarizing. Now, one may have expected this from business or news-focused shows, but this has also become an issue with Apple podcasts. To be clear, I am not talking about the Apple Podcast app but podcasts about Apple. And I am not limiting my use of the term âpoliticalâ to consternation about the American government; I am also referring to the pessimism directed at new foundational technologies like artificial intelligence.
The next four years will be tough for many people. Theyâll want an escape, even if they agree with some of these political views in principleâlook no further than MSNBCâs plummeting ratings for proof.
As a devoted podcast listener, I want more shows that are fun. I want shows that at least try to be optimistic, that understand the practical reality of our life in 2025 and want to connect with the audience at a more intimate level. I get a real sense that some of these shows have grown out of touch. Iâve spoken with others in the Apple community about this, and I know I am not alone in feeling this way. Of course, thereâs always room for serious conversations, but there needs to be some balance.
Iâm sure that some would argue that itâs Apple and not the shows that have âlost the plotâ (I said as much on Threads recently). But I donât think Apple has changed much from a decade ago. Tim Cookâs Apple may be undeniably different from Steve Jobsâ Apple, but pretending that change happened recently is denying reality. That said, letâs talk about the building blocks of what a new Apple podcast should look like.
Diverse viewpoints: The perfect show needs a variety of hosts (or frequent guests) with differing opinions. Thereâs been a sort of an expansion of homogenous viewpoints; some seem so sure theyâre right that theyâve grown snarky, alienating parts of their audience. A great conversation, one thatâs truly engaging, needs to have a solid mixture of folks who can explore a topic from every angle without fear of descending into an argumentative abyss. Thatâll keep conversations fresh and make them more relatable.
Focus on whatâs actually important: While personal stories and anecdotes add color, they should at least complement the core topic of discussion, not overshadow it. Itâs one thing to talk about the products youâre using or your workflow; itâs another to spend too much time discussing things the average listener cannot relate to.
New voices that arenât jaded: Weâre currently listening to many of the same voices we were listening to a decade ago. Thatâs not a dig; I deeply respect people who have been on the Apple beat for ages. However, we also need to hear from more folks who see things from a modern perspective, people who arenât quite so jaded or tired.
Optimism about new technologies: Itâs one thing to critique an aspect of a technology; itâs another to be diametrically opposed to it even existing. You cannot talk about technology from an unbiased or at least somewhat neutral perspective.
Take yourselves less seriously: These shows are supposed to be fun. Theyâre not supposed to be adversarial or profound; at their core, they are entertainment.
Bring back practicality: Letâs stop complaining about things that we canât control and focus on talking about the things that we can.
Balance the politics: Politics have their time and place. But when tuning in to an Apple podcast, I want to hear about the products and the technologies. Period. Straying into personal political opinions risks alienating listeners, especially when thatâs not what they tuned in for. If I want to know about Appleâs relationship with the government, Iâd rather hear it from professional journalists who cover those specific fields and frankly understand what theyâre talking about. Thereâs no reason to create an adversarial relationship with your listeners, especially when they may agree with you.
Easily digestible: I love a long podcast. However, the issues Iâve laid out here tend to lead to unnecessarily long shows that talk more about irrelevant than relevant topics.
Some Apple podcasts are already doing many of the things Iâm suggesting here, regardless of whether theyâve been around for years or are newer to the scene. But thereâs also clearly room for something different. While the existing shows Iâve critiqued may have their audience, itâs worth asking: How long will that last?
Okay, thatâs enough from me: What do you think? Is there room for a fresh, fun, and engaging new Apple-centric podcast?
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Lumon Takes Grand Central
Around lunchtime on Tuesday, I heard that Apple had started to set up an elaborate Lumon office space inside Grand Central Terminal to promote the return of Severance. Thankfully, I donât work too far from one of the largest train stations in the country, so I wandered over to see what theyâd built. Upon arrival, I was immediately in awe of the Lumon computers and keyboards that us nerds have been drooling over ever since they first graced our screens a few years ago. As far as anyone could tell, these were faithful recreations of the desks from the show.
I was fortunate enough to get up close and personal with the cube while it was uninhabited. I took tons of shots of the computers and small pieces on the desks. These are the kinds of details that I toil over. After all, Iâve been following the âdetailsâ company my entire life now. Things got really interesting when a few actors walked into the cube built around the desks to do some âwork.â Now all of this wouldâve been enough. To me, it was an extremely cool alternative to a traditional billboard or other kind of advertisement. I took plenty of pictures, picked up a bite, and walked back to my office.
A few hours later, just as I was getting ready to head home I learned that not only was the showâs director Ben Stiller on the scene but that all of the actors from earlier had been replaced by the actual cast of the show. Now things were getting interesting. It hadnât even crossed my mind that Apple might do this earlier in the day, though it should have.
When I arrived back at the station, the crowd was quite large and only continued to grow. Earlier when I visited there was almost nobody there outside of people who were clearly working for Apple and a few pedestrians briefly stopping to take a peek. This time though, there were influencers, celebrities, and a ton of fans. All of them, quietly watching Adam Scott as Mark S., Britt Lower as Helly R., Zach Cherry as Dylan G., and Tramell Tillman as Mr. Milchick.
Once I worked my way through a few layers of people, I came face to face with none other than Ben Stiller. If you donât know, Ben Stiller serves as the director of Severance and is credited with a great deal of the showâs success. Of course, heâs not alone. But câmon, itâs Ben-freakin-Stiller. It was incredibly cool to chat with him, having grown up watching his films and having become a massive fan of his father in later years. Jerry Stillerâs Arthur Spooner holds a very special place in my heart.
After congratulating Ben on the new season and snapping a selfie, I walked around the cube to see the actors working from all different angles. They didnât drop out of character once. After a bit, Patricia Arquette almost magically appeared out of the crowd and entered the cube. Ms. Cobel had arrived to survey the work that the macrodata refiners were doing.
Patricia Arquette is one of the best parts of Severance, so seeing her as Cobel in the flesh was a particularly special experience. Though nothing compares to seeing Adam Scott as Mark S. up close. He embodies that character so well, itâs truly wild to see. I had hoped that I would get to snap a selfie with Adam, but the cast remained in character the entire time, even when they exited the cube. As a diehard Parks and Rec fan, it was a bucket list moment to get within feet of the former mayor of Partridge, Ben Wyatt: Human Disaster.
This was an experience Iâll never forget. Why? Not just because it was an epic Apple marketing stunt that immediately belongs in the pantheon of historic Apple marketing moments, but because it was a wholesome shared experience with the other folks there. Watching streaming services tends to be an activity many of us do on our own, and when it comes to television in particular, there isnât quite a movie theater setting to enjoy them in. So collectively seeing the Lumon staff work in person, together, in one of the busiest commuter hubs was not only different but remarkable. It was a uniquely New York moment, and it reminded me of how lucky I am to live here.
Ultimately, thereâs a lesson here: Itâs about people. I fanboyed over the pop-up, the set pieces, the computers, the desks, the carpet, all of the nerdy stuff. But what I didnât expect was the impact the humans would have on me; they blew me away that night. Lots of folks like to say that âApple is the new HBO.â Theyâre right, and this event is proof. Itâs also a reminder that Apple succeeds when they focus on people. Because what really makes technology meaningful is how humans use it to, as Steve Jobs once said, âexpress their appreciation to the rest of humanityââ whether theyâre actors, builders, or a nerd like me.
Special thanks to James Bareham for helping me edit, go subscribe to his Substack!
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Reflecting on 13 Years Without Steve Jobs
On October 5th 2011, Iâd spent the day shadowing my older cousin at his high school. I remember talking with his friends at lunch about how amazing Siri looked on the iPhone 4s and getting home in the afternoon, absolutely exhausted by the prospect of high school. I really only remember this day as vividly as I do for one reason. Later that evening, I was watching tv when my iPhone buzzed. The push notification that had just been delivered to my iPhone 4 said that Steve Jobs had passed away.
While I had only just turned 13 a few weeks earlier, Steve had been my hero for many years. Ever since my dad introduced me to the Mac as a little kid I had been absolutely enamored both by Apple and by the man who built it. I wanted nothing more than to someday be as cool, creative, and successful as Steve Jobs. My childhood bedroom was covered in prints, magazine covers, Apple posters, books, memorabilia, and so on. I was as big of a Steve Jobs fan as you could get. Iâd pretend to give Apple keynotes with the family iMac, Iâd wait for every product announcement with bated breath, Iâd consume every bit of content I could from podcasts (before they were cool) and the blogs. Unlike my friends who looked up to athletes, musicians, actors, and so on, I was the one weirdo who was fascinated by a company and its chief executive. I remember friends checking in on me that night and I recall going into school the next morning where my teacher handed me a very kind note. Everyone around me had an inkling of what was going through my head.
Over the years my fascination with Steve evolved. It became less about the products that heâd introduced us to, the ones that left immeasurable impacts on our lives, but more about his way of thinking. His philosophy became the basis for my college essay and I have spent countless hours parsing quotes, speeches, and so on. He wasnât just special because of his extraordinary taste, or his unbelievable ability to pull together the smartest people and squeeze every last drop of talent out of them, or even his unmistakable (and to this day unmatched) presentation chops. He was special to me because of how he saw the world. There are so many insights worth sharing and studying. But it really boils down to one quote that hits me like a freight train every time I think about it and I think about it quite often:
Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use. And the minute you understand that you can poke life, and if you push in, then something will pop out the other side; that you can change it, you can mold itâthatâs maybe the most important thing: to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there, and youâre just going to live in it versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. I think thatâs very important, and however you learn that, once you learn it, youâll want to change life and make it better. Because itâs kind of messed up in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, youâll never be the same again.
My admiration for Steve and his way of thinking means that I have put an enormous amount of pressure on myself over the years. People close to me know that thereâs a lot going on in my head at any given moment. Like everyone I have my own personal challenges. Pressure isnât always good. In fact itâs often been difficult to contend with. But I still view the pressure as a net good. I wouldnât be where I am right now without the fire that he ignited within me. While I still have a long way to go before I even remotely come close to the expectations that little Parker set for himself many years ago, I know that I am on a good path. The jobs that Iâve been fortunate enough to land, the amazing people Iâve met that I can now call friends and mentors, and the unforgettable experiences over the years all came ultimately as a result of the hard work that I put in. That work ethic can be traced back to what I learned from Steve. I wouldnât have met and been hired by the folks I worked for at BuzzFeed, I wouldnât have joined 9to5Mac and made what I hope are lifelong friendships, and I certainly wouldnât be able to work with the folks at The Verge who Iâve looked up to for over a decade.
I just recently turned 26, which means that Steveâs been gone for half of my life now. Yes, itâs been 13 years. It boggles my mind that it was that long ago. I miss him immensely. Not just because I constantly wonder what life would be like in a world where Steve Jobs was still the curator of our digital lives, but because of what other wisdom he may have been able to bestow upon us. It feels strange writing this, particularly because many technology executives now often feel like parodies of Steve. They all want to be technologically transformational, but they also want to shoehorn themselves into thought leader roles. Steve never really strived to be a thought leader, he naturally became one. To this day, thereâs no other person who has ever been able to step into the hero role for me. No one even comes close and frankly, I worry about the young nerds today and who they may look up to. 13 years later there are still massive voids in leadership, in character, and in creativity.
I think itâs safe to say that I am not alone in missing Steve. No one ever truly believed that thereâd be a figure like him again. There never was going to be âthe next Steve Jobsâ as much as many of us wanted to believe it. It kills me that I never got to meet him, but thereâs no question that there is not a single other human being outside of my family that has had the same kind of colossal impact on my thinking. Waking up every single day, realizing that the things around me were simply made up by people no smarter than the rest of us is not only humbling, itâs an unbelievable motivator. If you want to change something, you can do it if you put in the work. No matter what you choose to do with your life, just do it with purpose. Whatever you make, make it great. It doesnât matter the size of the âdent in the universe,â as long as you make one. A desire to make my own dent is what gets me out of bed every morning. Itâs what drives me.
Thanks for everything Steve.